


The White Prince

by Superduperspecial8010



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Death, Domestic Violence, Guilt, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, My First Fanfic, Slow Burn, first time posting on ao3, hopefully I did a good job tagging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25174102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superduperspecial8010/pseuds/Superduperspecial8010
Summary: Ryo lives in a small, obscure village in the Earth Kingdom. Ryo is happy, he has warm meals, a roof over his head, and a decent amount of money for a kid his age. But he knows his happiness is short-lived, because no matter how hard you try, you can never run from the past.
Relationships: Azula (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Eventual Original Male Character/Original Female Character, Iroh (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Lu Ten (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Mai (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Ozai (Avatar) & Original Character(s), The Gaang (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Ty Lee (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Ursa (Avatar) & Original Character(s), Zuko (Avatar) & Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first piece of fiction I've written in my entire life so hopefully it isn't that bad. I'll try to update this at least once every few days, so check every now and then for new chapters. I aspire to improve my writing so I appreciate any and all constructive criticism.

_“Mom?”_

_“Yes Ryo?”_

_“W-When I was showing Grandfather what I could do, why were you crying?”_

_“… I was scared”_

_“Are you… are you scared of me?”_

_“Please listen to me Ryo. I wasn’t crying because I was scared_ _of_ _you. I was crying because I was scared_ _for y_ _ou”_

  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  


The task of carrying sacks of flour from the granary to the storeroom of the shop, was one he had grown used to. Everyday, he rose with the morning sun and grabbed the squeaky wooden wagon from the back of the store. He would go up the bumpy dirt road that led to the granary, pay Miki with the money Boss gave him, and carry the wagon of flour back to the shop and load them into the storeroom. It wasn’t hard for him. He was strong. If anything, carrying the wagon up and down the road was relaxing. It paid well too. Though the coin was a little lacking, a roof over his head and the leftover dumplings from the shop were more than he could’ve asked for. 

He remembered his first time on the job. He wearily woke up and stumbled outside, over to the back where Boss was waiting for him with the wagon. Boss told him the directions to the granary, handed him the money to pay Miki, and then sent him on his way. He was constantly looking over his shoulder as he was walking, worried that at any moment, the wagon would collapse under the weight of the sacks. Boss was following him from behind, carefully hidden behind a rock or tree, making sure he didn’t run off with the money for the flour. He knew he was there the whole time, but even if he didn't, he wouldn’t do something as dishonourable as stealing from an old man. When he made it back to the store, Boss showed him where to stack the flour and thanked him for not running off with the money like all those other lowlifes he had hired. He smiled and thanked him back. That was a year ago, but it felt like it had happened just yesterday.

He yawned as he watched the half moon slowly rise up into the sky. He started for the stairs.

“Going to sleep already?”, Boss asked, taking a puff of his pipe, “I thought you kids are supposed to be full of spirit and energy and whatnot”

“Well my Uncle once said to me, “a man needs his rest”. You know, you actually remind me of him a little”

“In what ways?”

“You’re both wise, and his addiction to tea is as bad as your addiction to opium”

Boss chuckled.

“Good night Boss”

“I’ll see you in the morning, Chen”

Chen. Being called a name that wasn’t truly his was something he would never grow used to. He opened the door to his room and closed it gently behind him. He walked over to the mirror, staring at the reflection of his head to see if any of his natural hair color was showing. Fortunately, it wasn’t. He blew the two lamps out, then sat down in front of his bedroll and reached into his chest pocket, taking out the only reminder of his past. 

It shone a brilliant red under the moonlight coming through the open window. Despite the scratches and slightly tarnished silver outlines, it still bore an aura of respect and power. He set the crown down in front of him, closed his eyes, and prayed to the spirits. 

He prayed for his Mother. If there was any way for them to send her a sign that he was alive, that he was alright, just something, anything, he asked that they please do so.

He prayed for Zuko. May he be safe from harm, from manipulation, and most of all, his Father.

He prayed for Uncle Iroh. May he always smile that joyous smile he always does and also enjoy a warm cup of tea. May he one day forgive him. It was his fault that he had lost the crown.

He prayed for Lu Ten. May he rest in peace, along with all the poor souls who were forced to die on the battlefield.

He prayed for Mai. May she finally just confess to Zuko already. 

He prayed for Ty Lee. May her aura… stay pink, or whatever.

He prayed for the world. May this bloody, pointless war finally come to an end. May there finally be peace after 100 years of death. May…

_You could’ve stopped it._

_What?_

_You could’ve stopped the war._

_I… I didn’t know. I didn’t know that-_

_Don’t lie. You knew what was happening. You knew it was wrong. You could’ve stopped it. You had the power to._

_But-_

_But you didn’t Ryo. Instead you ran away and hid. You’re disgusting. You’re pathetic. You’re a coward._

Ryo opened his eyes. They felt like they were burning. He wiped them with the sleeve of his shirt and then picked his crown up off the ground and gently tucked it back into his chest pocket. He laid down on the bedroll and pulled the blanket over himself. Slowly, he drifted off into a quiet, somber sleep.

Light hit his face. Ryo blinked, and then sluggishly got out of bed. He shuffled over to the mirror and sighed as he attempted to smooth out his ruffled hair. Whatever, it would be fine in a few hours. Today he could use some new clothes. Ryo grabbed his coin pouch from under the pillow and put it in his pocket. He could sense Boss downstairs, sitting on a stool and smoking his pipe. Judging by his posture, he wasn’t annoyed that Ryo was late. At least not yet.

Ryo opened the door and went down the stairs.

“Good morning Boss”

“Mornin’ Chen. I see you’re up about five minutes late”

“Well that was because the moonlight was shining on my face while I was trying to sleep Boss”

“And you didn’t think to close the window?”

“Well Boss, if I had closed the window, then the sunlight wouldn’t have hit my face this morning, and I would have been an hour late instead of just five minutes”

Boss smiled.

“This is why I hired you Chen. Anyway, here’s the money for the flour”

He handed Ryo three copper pieces.

“And tell Miki that I wish her a happy birthday”

“Will do, Boss”

Ryo headed out the shop door and around the back to go get the wagon. He grasped the smooth wooden handles and began heading up the road to the granary. Ryo looked behind him, smiling as he watched the sun rise on the small town. He turned back to the road and kept walking.

The apple trees by the road always reminded him of home. The good parts. Sitting under the big one in the palace garden. Patiently waiting for a ripe apple to fall into his open hands. Azula always just climbed up the tree and grabbed one instead of waiting for them to come down on their own. That’s why she never got any ripe ones. Ryo would always share the one or two apples that fell from the tree with Zuko as they would talk and laugh about stuff like how boring their lessons were or what Zuko would do when he became Fire Lord. Even though Zuko was the oldest and he was the youngest of the three, Ryo always felt like they were pretty much the same age. He would sense Mai hiding behind the stone pillars when her father came to visit, occasionally peeking her head out to spy on Zuko and then immediately ducking back behind when she thought someone had seen her. Ty Lee would always cartwheel up to him and ask him for the millionth time why his hair was white and if he was secretly an old man. 

Ryo slowed down as he sensed two mooselion cubs roaming around the trees near him, and not far behind, their mother. Fortunately, they were moving away from the road. He let out a sigh of relief and continued walking. 

After a few more minutes of walking, Ryo arrived at the granary. The massive field of wheat that stretched almost all the way across the horizon swayed gently with the wind, like waves rolling across an amber sea. Miki’s house was at the end, dwarfed by the two giant stone silos next to it. He headed towards the house. 

“Hey Chen!”, said Miki as Ryo arrived in front of her house.

“Hey Miki!”, he replied, “Boss wishes you a happy birthday!”

“Ah that’s very nice of him. Did he bring me a present by chance?”

“Um…”

“I’m just kidding”, she laughed, “I honestly don’t really care for birthday presents or anything like that”

Ryo handed Miki the pouch for the grain and she led him over to the storage shack. She unlocked the door with the key around her neck and started putting sacks on the wagon.

“Oh no, I’ll do that”, said Ryo.

“Really? You don’t want any help?”

“Nah it’s fine. I can do it”

“Well, alright then”

He quickly loaded five sacks into the wagon.

“One more thing”, Ryo said reaching into his coin pouch and pulling out a silver piece, “Here, this is for you”

“Chen, I could never-”

“Please, it’s your birthday”

“But, you need that a lot more than I do”

“No no no, it’s fine really”

“… I guess I don’t really have a choice if you’re just going to keep begging me, do I”

She took the gift and ruffled his hair.

“You know, the world could really use a few more kids like you Chen”

He just smiled in response. No, it really couldn’t.

Ryo waved her goodbye and started walking back to the shop. He felt like relaxing and getting a cup of jasmine tea today. Yeah, that would be nice. That would be very nice.

He sensed a flock of birds above him and looked up. Weird. Cranefish usually didn’t come this close inland. Maybe they were migrating somewhere. 

Ryo looked back in front of him as he smelled something weird.

_Smoke_.

Ryo dropped the wagon and sprinted as fast as he could towards the village. The increasing amount of smoke made his eyes water slightly. He ran faster. 

He reached the top of the hill and looked down at the village. The entire market square was on fire but the rest of the town was untouched. Many people were already fleeing up the roads, and from the looks of it, the Fire Nation soldiers didn’t seem intent on stopping them. That was some relief, thank Agni. Ryo could see a middle-aged man wearing the uniform of a Fire Nation captain standing before a crowd of terrified townspeople in front of the burning market square, probably preaching some bullshit about how they were spreading the “greatness” of the Fire Nation by invading their village and how they should be thankful that they were here to “rescue” them from the “tyranny” of the Earth Kingdom. 

A man was running up the road towards Ryo. Hong, the fish shop owner. 

“Hong!”, Ryo yelled to him.

Hong looked up at him. His face was covered in sweat and ash.

“Chen?!”

“Do you know where Boss is?!”

Hong leaned against the tree next to him, trying to catch his breath. 

“Old… Old Man Oshi, he’s at the shop… he’s trying to fight them off”

Of course he was. Boss, like most earthbenders, had a head harder than the rock he bent. 

Ryo sprinted down the hill. He could sense Boss fighting against ten firebenders, manipulating the street using his earthbending so he would only have to fight them one at a time. 

“If you dickheads think I’m just gonna stand here and let you burn my town to ashes, you’re dead wrong!”, he heard Boss yell.

A soldier was coming up behind him however, getting ready to launch a blast of fire while Boss was distracted. 

Ryo jumped and tackled the soldier to the ground before he could attack, the soldier’s helmet flying off in the process. Ryo locked eyes with him. 

He was a young boy, probably only a few years older than himself. Quickly, before he could struggle to get up, Ryo delivered a chop to the young soldier’s clavicle, feeling the soft bone break around his hand. The boy screamed in pain, clutching his broken collarbone.

“If you get up, I’ll kill you”, Ryo said, staring into the boy’s eyes again, his fist ready to strike him again if he tried anything funny.

The boy complied and stayed down on the ground.

Ryo’s attention turned to Boss.

“Boss!”

“Chen?! You gotta get out of here son!”

“Me?! No _you_ gotta get out of here!”

“I ain’t letting these bastards burn down my dumpling shop!”, he shouted while bending a wall to stop an incoming ball of fire.

“A damned dumpling shop isn’t something to die over!”, Ryo shouted back.

He sensed more firebenders, at least 50, coming from both sides of the street. He stuck his foot out from the corner of the street intersection, causing one soldier to trip and fall to the ground, and the others to trip over him. Hopefully that would buy them a few seconds.

“You have family on Kyoshi Island right?! You can go there and start another dumpling shop!”, Ryo yelled.

“It won’t be the same!”

“What do you mean it won’t be the same?! You’ll still be the one making the dumplings! It’s not like they’re gonna taste worse because you made them on Kyoshi Island!”

“Hmm, I guess you have a point there. Let’s get the fuck out of here then”

Ryo slapped his palm against his face.

Boss got into a wide stance and thrust his palms toward the ground, bending a hole they could escape through.

“C’mon! Get in!”, he yelled.

Ryo quickly ran to the hole, but before he could step inside the wall Boss had made, exploded. They covered eyes as dust and heat blew into their faces. As the dust cleared, Ryo saw that there was a row of ten firebenders standing behind the rubble. He sensed another row of ten that had formed on his left. In the middle, was the captain he had seen from before. His face was hard. His eyes were two soulless, amber orbs. The firebenders on each side shifted into stance, ready to incinerate them on the captain’s command. 

Ryo would have to do it.

Ryo would have to bend.

The captain held his hand up and began to speak in a cold tone.

“It is customary in my country to give one’s enemies a chance to say their final words, so if any of you have-”

“I’ll give you one warning”, said Ryo in a tone far colder than the captain’s, “If you try to hurt me or the old man, all of you _will_ die”

Boss looked at him like he was insane.

The captain scowled and lowered his hand behind his back. Ryo breathed inwards. Before the captain could yell “fire”, Ryo’s arms shot out to his sides. Blue lightning sprung from his fingertips towards the Fire Nation soldiers at the ends of the street. The captain’s eyes didn’t even have time to widen before the bolt struck him, passing through his body, into the soldiers beside him. 

In a split-second, it was over. The soldiers’ lifeless bodies fell to the ground. Then, silence. 

“I’ve got to go now”, said Ryo solemnly, “… Thank you for everything, Boss”

“… Your name isn’t actually Chen, is it”

“No, it’s not”

“What is it then?”

“… Ryo”

“Ah”, he chuckled softly, “The White Prince”

Ryo turned away and began walking down the street. The boy he had struck before had his back against the wall, cowering like a scared animal. He flinched as Ryo walked past him.

“Make sure they get a proper cremation”, he said as he passed the boy. 

Ryo got on the road that headed north. There was only one place in the world where he could hide. 

Deep within the walls of Ba Sing Sei.


	2. The Thing in the Valley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fun fact I guess: the name "Ryo" is a reference to the Vocaloid producer Ryo. It doesn't really have anything to do with his character though. I was originally going to use the name "Ryuji" but that felt kind of generic to me so I just went with "Ryo" because it sounded like "Ryuji" and because I like Vocaloid. I'm going to name all my OC's after Vocaloid producers, but it's not really going to be much of a trend because there's only 2 OC's relevant to the plot: Ryo and a female OC who hasn't been introduced yet. Anyway here's the second chapter.

_ “So… he really is… gone?” _

_ “I’m sorry Ryo, I know how much you loved him” _

_ “I just wish they would surrender or ask for a peace treaty or something, then the war would finally end and more people wouldn’t have to die” _

_ “Me too, Ryo. Me too” _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Ryo always hated it when people called lightning “the cold-blooded fire”. That made it sound cruel. Inhumane. Evil. Lightning wasn’t like that. 

When someone was set on fire, they suffered. They would die a slow, painful death as they felt the heat burn their flesh away, the smoke fill their lungs, the flames slowly consume, feeding off of their agony. When someone was struck with lightning, they died instantly. No pain, no suffering. Just a quick snap… and it was all over. Lightning was merciful.

Ryo remembered the first time he bended lightning. His family had come to Ember Island to have a nice, relaxing vacation on the beach, but unfortunately the weather had different plans for them. He was standing on the beach, ignoring his worried Mother’s calls to come inside before the storm hit. He continued to ignore her even as her cries grew more and more frantic, completely mesmerized by the white bolts that streaked across the sky and the deep boom that followed after. He felt the storm was speaking to him somehow. Its voice, drowning out everything else in order to tell him something. Ryo sat down and listened. What happened next, was very hard to describe. It was like his body moved by itself, but he was somehow still in control. He took a single breath inwards, and then thrust his hand out in front of him, sending a bolt of lightning across the ocean. At five years old, he had done what it took a firebending master decades to achieve. 

From that point on, Ryo began training by himself every single day. He would wake up early in the morning, practice until noon, and then relax for the rest of the day. One time, Uncle Iroh came to teach him despite Ryo saying numerous times that he didn’t need anyone to. He remembered when Uncle showed him a traditional lightningbending form. Ryo was confused. Everything about the form felt wrong. It was way too slow and there were way too many unnecessary moves. Lightning wasn’t supposed to be slow, it was supposed to be quick like it was in nature. He told this to his Uncle and then demonstrated the techniques he had developed. His Uncle patted him on the shoulder and told Ryo that he didn’t need a teacher because Ryo was practicing his own style of bending lightning. Ryo smiled and they shared a pot of jasmine tea for lunch that day. 

Agni, he wished he could have some jasmine tea right now.

Ryo got up out of the cave he had taken shelter in and walked over to the road. He was really missing bedroll right now. Fortunately, the trip to Ba Sing Sei wouldn't be very long. All he would have to do was continue up this road to the town of Hana, go through the Shattered Valley, and take the ferry from Full Moon Bay to the city.

Ryo stretched his legs and began walking. 

After an hour or two of walking, he had reached Hana. Now would probably be a good time to pick up supplies. He reached into his coin pouch and counted out how much money he had. 17 copper pieces and seven silver ones. More than enough for a few day’s worth of food.

Ryo went over to the village market.

“What can I get for you today young man?”, the man at the stand asked.

“One of those platypusbear skin backpacks, a bag of chicken jerky, and um, four apples”, said Ryo.

“You got it. Where’re you headed?”

“Ba Sing Sei”

“You’re not thinking of going through the Shattered Valley are you?”

“I am, why?”

“Haven’t you heard? The Spirit of the Valley… he’s grown angry, won’t let anyone pass through. At least, not alive”

Agni damnit.

“Is there any other way to get to Full Moon Bay?”

“Well if you go to Una, head northwest, and then follow the edge of the Great Divide east, you should make it to Half Moon Bay”

“Una was invaded by the Fire Nation yesterday”

“Oh dear”

“Do you know why the spirit is angry? Maybe something could be done to appease him”

“Well, three weeks ago, there was a large battle between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation forces in the valley. My mother once told me that when blood is spilled on a spirit’s land the spirit becomes… corrupted. Their body becomes physical and they become hostile towards anything that comes to their land. Looks like that’s what happened to the Spirit of the Valley”

“Is there any way to um, un-corrupt the spirit?”

“You wait 20 to 30 years for the spirit to calm down, or you could somehow destroy its body, but that might just make it-”

“Alright, destroy the body, got it”

“Woah woah woah, are you crazy?! That thing killed an entire platoon of soldiers!”

“I’ll be fine”, said Ryo as he handed the man a silver piece.

Ryo put the food inside the platypusbear skin backpack and then slung it over his shoulders. 

He started for the valley.

The small forest of aspen trees that the road went through was completely silent. It put him off. Ryo couldn’t sense a single living thing around him. It was like the place was cursed. Well, it  _ was _ cursed.

He caught a glimpse of the valley as he neared the end of the road. It wasn’t called the Shattered Valley for no reason. The grey, barren ground was completely covered in cracks, ranging from half an inch to a few feet in width. Ryo took a step forward and saw it. A dark, masked soldier holding a naginata, its ebony armor, bearing an emblem of a white, three-footed crow, shining under the light of the setting sun. It stood directly in the middle of the road, daring him to try and pass through. Ryo couldn’t sense anything from it though it was standing directly in front of him. Its body must not have a nervous system, or probably even organs for that matter.

“Oh great Spirit of the Valley”, Ryo began, hoping for the slightest chance that the spirit might listen to his words, “I mean no harm. I come only to ask for safe passage through your land”

The spirit pointed its naginata at Ryo.

Oh well. It was worth a shot. 

The spirit lunged at him, swinging the naginata with inhuman speed. Ryo stepped back just far enough to avoid the strike, the spirit’s pitch black blade clipping a tuft of his hair off instead of his neck. Ryo counterattacked immediately with a kick to the spirit’s chest that pushed it back a little but otherwise left it completely unfazed. At least he knew that he could actually hit it. The spirit choked up on the handle of its naginata and thrusted towards Ryo’s throat. Ryo quickly moved to the side and parried it with his hand, then elbowed the spirit in the face, putting a dent in the steel mask it wore. He felt a sudden jolt of pain as the spirit kicked him in the calf. He fell to the ground, but quickly rolled away from the spirit and began sprinting towards the valley. 

The valley was only a mile and a half wide. If he ran fast enough, he would be able to make it to the other side without being caught by the spirit. The world around him became a blur of grey and orange as he ran faster than he had ever run in his life. 

Ryo felt something grab his foot. Suddenly, he found himself face-first in the dirt, groaning in pain. An armored hand shot out of a small crack in the ground near Ryo’s face and quickly seized his throat. 

What in Agni’s name?!

Ryo pushed himself off the ground with his hands and his free foot, breaking out of the spirit’s iron grip. He took a quick breath inwards and shifted into stance. The spirit was nowhere to be seen. 

Behind him. Ryo spun around backwards, pivoting on his right foot, and shot a bolt of lightning into the spirit’s chest before it could strike him. It flew backwards and crashed into a large rock several feet away. The spirit rose to its feet again, ignoring the big hole in its chest. Guess it would take more than that to kill it. Ryo could see that there was nothing inside. That must be why he couldn’t sense anything from it. It was just a hollow suit of armor.

The spirit suddenly sunk into the ground like there was nothing under it at all. A naginata impossibly emerged from a tiny crack in front of Ryo’s foot and swung at him. He stepped to the side and dodged it, but immediately after it sunk back into the crack it sprung out of another on his right which Ryo narrowly avoided. 

This was bad. Very bad. If the spirit kept him on his feet like this he wouldn’t be able to bend. He couldn’t keep dodging forever. The spirit wouldn’t tire. Ryo would. He needed to use his last resort. 

Damn, he was gonna be sore tomorrow.

Ryo got in a wide stance and thrust his arms out, lightning forming around them. He quickly pulled them back into his body. Everything began moving in slow motion. He could feel the energy coursing through his body, increasing his strength a hundredfold. 

60 seconds. He had 60 seconds to end this fight before the enhancement would wear off. The longer it took, the more pain he would feel next morning. 

The naginata emerged from the ground again, moving slower than a caterpillarslug. Ryo grabbed it and pulled, dragging the spirit out of the ground. He chopped at the spirit’s arms, his hand crumpling them like they were tin foil. Ryo grabbed the edges of the hole he had made when he shot the spirit before, and pulled, ripping its metal chest open. He jumped away from the spirit’s maimed body and shot a final blast of lightning at it, releasing all of the excess Chi in his body. 

After the smoke cleared, the only thing left of the spirit was a molten puddle of slag. 

Ryo could feel the dull pain creeping in. His vision was getting blurry. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. He was tired. Agni, he was so tired. It hurt everywhere, but he was too tired to care. Sleep. He needed to sleep.

Something fluttered down beside him. Wearily, Ryo lifted his head. 

“Wha… What?”

It was a white, glowing crow with three legs. It nodded to him. 

Thanking him.

Ryo shut his eyes.


	3. Street Urchin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little longer than the others so sorry if it came a little late.

_ “It’s not fair!” _

_ “I know Ryo, but it was your Grandfather’s decision” _

_ “Uncle lost his only son and  _ _ this _ _ is how he gets treated?! By having his birthright stolen from him and given to Father?!” _

_ “Ryo please, calm down. Why don’t we go on a nice walk around the palace, that’ll make you feel better” _

_ “No! I don’t want to go on a walk around the palace! I’m going to my room and I’m not talking to anyone!” _

_ “Ryo…” _

“Hmm”

Ryo picked the bamboo hat up off the ground and looked at it. He wondered how it had ended up in the middle of the road. Maybe the wind blew it off someone’s head. Maybe someone forgot it. Who knew? He shrugged, gently patted the dirt off of it, and put the hat on. It would help hide his hair when the dye ran out. Ryo kept walking down the road. He felt strangely refreshed today despite the events of last afternoon. The Spirit of the Valley must’ve healed him or something. His eyes wandered across the lake (or was it a river?) searching for a glimpse of the city and its walls. 

He didn’t really know what to expect from Ba Sing Sei. It was a huge city, almost as big as the entirety of the Fire Nation. Ryo would be living in the crowded, poverty-stricken slums of the Outer Ring where he would have to either work his ass off or steal, probably both, in order to stay alive. Great. Maybe if he was lucky, he could move up to the Middle Ring. Whatever, it would just be like back when he first ran away from home. Plus this time he had some food and money to start off with. 

Ryo arrived at the harbor. There was a long line of people waiting to get inside the customs building. All of them refugees like him. He sighed and then got in line. 

“So where’re you from, kid?”, said the middle-aged man standing in front of him.

“Una. You?”

“Blackville”

“So, do you um, have any news about what’s been going on lately? I heard the Avatar has resurfaced”

“Yeah he has, I’ve actually met him before if you want to hear about it”

“Oh yes, definitely”

“Alright this was back about a month ago, so the Avatar isn’t actually an old man, he’s a 12 year old air nomad named Aang”

“Wait you’re telling me the Avatar is a little kid?”

“He is, I saw him with my own eyes”

“Huh… go on then”

“I met him in Chin where he was travelling with a boy and a girl from the Southern Water Tribe”

“Chin? Isn’t that the town that hates the Avatar because Avatar Kyoshi killed their leader a few hundred years ago or something?”

“Yeah, that’s why he was there. He was trying to clear the name of Avatar Kyoshi so that the town would stop hating him. There was this big trial where he kind of… turned into Avatar Kyoshi, and then confirmed that Kyoshi did in fact, kill their leader”

“Hmm…”

“Then they sentenced the Avatar to death, but then a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers attacked the town. The Avatar drove the soldiers off and then the town forgave him for saving them”

Ryo debated how much of that was lies. Either some of it or all of it.

“So do you know what the Avatar is doing now?”

“I don’t, sorry”

“Nah it’s fine”

Ryo continued to chat idly with the man until he was finally at the front desk.

“Passport?”, growled the lady behind the counter.

Ryo took his passport out and handed it to the lady.

“Do you have any foreign fruits or vegetables on you”

“No. I have some chicken jerky in my backpack though so do I have to throw that away?”

“No, chicken jerky is fine”

Oh thank Agni.

“The ticket will be three silver pieces and five copper pieces”

What?! That was insane! How did they expect a refugee to fork over that much money! Though, he didn’t really have a choice unless he wanted to swim across the river. Reluctantly, he gave the lady half of his entire life savings in exchange for the ticket.

“Have a nice day”

Ryo boarded the ferry and sat down on a bench near the front of the ship. He could see the city from here. The island in a sea of fire. The last place Ryo would have to run to. 

At least… he hoped. 

He rested his head on his hands and pondered about how he was going to get a job.

Ba Sing Sei felt a lot less crowded than he thought it would be. Ryo imagined that he would have to wade through a sea of people just to get from one place to another. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the streets were only slightly more busy than in Una. He started walking towards a bakery near the end of the street. 

A group of children came over to him as he approached the bakery. 

“Hey mister, can you help us find our ball?”, said the boy at the head of the group, pointing over to an empty lot.

He knew what they were up to. Ryo could sense two of them climbing the wooden railing behind him, waiting for him to back up or lean over so that they could help themselves to the contents of his backpack. It was a smart move to try to pickpocket him before leading him to the group of thugs that were surely in that lot. 

“Alright then, lead the way”, he said while moving just out of reach of the children behind him.

Ryo sympathized with street urchins because well, he was one for a time. These kids looked pretty thin too. They could use a few coppers.

The lead child grinned and led him to the lot. Yep it was a trap. He sensed one thug near the single entrance/exit of the lot and two leaning on the back wall. Pretty good place for a trap too. It was a dead end, and far enough from the street where no one would be able to hear him if he screamed. Too bad they were going to the ones screaming.

“So where’s the ball?”, Ryo asked sarcastically.

The thug near the entrance threw three coppers to the lead child. Ryo smiled and waved him goodbye as he was leaving with the money. The child gave him a confused look. 

“Let’s make this simple”, sneered the thug standing near the entrance as he pulled out a knife, “Give me all of your stuff, and me and my friends here won’t kill you”

The two thugs on the wall quickly got up to surround him, brandishing knives of their own.

“I have a better idea: How about you and your little buddies put those toys away before you get hurt”, Ryo replied.

“You had your chance, dumbass!”, the thug shouted, rushing him with the knife.

“So did you”

Ryo stepped to the side and grabbed the thug’s wrist. He struck the man’s elbow with his palm, snapping his arm in half. 

The thug screamed in agony and dropped the knife. Ryo threw him to the ground and then turned to the other two thugs. They immediately sheathed their knives and ran away, dragging their injured friend with them. Guess they were smarter than he gave them credit for. 

He sensed someone perched atop the right wall of the lot. A girl, probably about the same age as him.

“You’re pretty good”, said the girl.

She hopped off the wall and landed smoothly on the ground. Ryo turned around to face her.

She was pretty short, with equally short black hair. Her slightly dirty face bore a big, dopey grin. She reminded him of Ty Lee. 

“What’s your name?”

“Chen”, Ryo replied.

“Cheeeeeeen…”

“You seem like you want something from me”

“Mmhmm, I do want something from you. I could use some help with a little job I have planned for tonight”

“I’m assuming this job involves breaking into some noble’s mansion”

“Yep”

“And lemme guess, you’re doing this because this noble is a greedy pig, and that by stealing from him you’re really just serving the greater good”

“What no. I just need money”

“Alright then, I’m in”

“Wait wait what? You’re in already? I haven’t even told you what you’ll get in return”

“Honesty is something I appreciate and I’m obviously going to get money”

“Wow, this really wasn’t how this went in my head. You were gonna be like, “That sounds really dangerous, what’s in it for me?”, and then we were gonna haggle for ten minutes about how we should split the spoils until we eventually both agreed on an even 50/50”

“Well I think we just saved ourselves a lot of time. Anyway, what’s the plan?”

“Alright, so we’ll take the train into the Upper ring and then walk over to the guy’s mansion”

“They’ll just let us go into the upper ring?”

“Yeah, you look passable for a noble and I will too once I put on some of this makeup I stole”

“Ok, so how will we get in the mansion?”

“So the guy we’re hitting has this really pretty garden that he loves dearly. Calls it his pride and joy even. It would be a real shame if something bad happened to it”, she smirked, pulling out a lighter and a bottle of oil.

“So we’re going to burn his garden down and sneak in his house while him and the guards are distracted with the fire”

“Exactly”

“So we get inside, then what?”

“We beat up all guards and steal whatever we can find”

“That’s easier said than done”

“I’m pretty sure we can handle it, the mansion doesn’t have a lot of security”

“What about locks, do you know to lockpick?”

“Yeah, but I’ve got something better than picks”

She reached into her satchel and pulled out three brown paper bricks and some fuses.

“This is high-explosive blasting putty, if we come across any locks I can’t pick, we can use it to blow them to pieces”

“Ok, one more thing”

“What?”

“What’s your name?”

“Eh? Didn’t I tell you?”

“No”

“Oh woops. It’s Lamaze”

“Alright so when are we heading off, Lamaze?”

“Uh… now, I guess”

“Now?”

“Yep, it’ll take about an hour and a half to get to the Upper Ring from here. Then we’ll go stake out near the mansion”

“Alright, let’s get going then”

They stood up and began making their way to the station. 

“It is actually a pretty nice garden”, said Ryo.

“Yeah, it’s a shame we have to burn it”, Lamaze replied. 

The sun had sunken completely into the horizon. The stars were faintly glimmering in the darkening sky. Lamaze reached into her satchel and handed him a black bandanna. He wrapped it around his face and then tied it behind the back of his head.

“Where should we start the fire?”, she asked.

“Probably in that cherry orchard, the trees are close to each other and there are a lot of dead leaves on the ground”

“Got it”

Lamaze put her bandanna on. They both slid down the hill they were using as a vantage point and jumped on top of the garden wall. Stealthily, they crept over to the orchard. Lamaze hopped down, emptied the contents of the bottle around one of the trees, and lit it. The tree instantly went up in crackling yellow flames. Lamaze jumped back on the wall. 

“Let’s head back to the hill and wait for them to start putting out the fire”, Ryo whispered.

She nodded and quickly followed him back to their vantage point before the smoke could start rising.

After about five minutes they heard screaming. Several mansion guards rushed over to the garden and began trying to put out the fire. Ryo and Lamaze jumped back on the wall and then ran towards the mansion.

“There’s an open window on the top floor right over there”, said Lamaze.

“Got it”, Ryo replied.

“You can get up there right?”

“Yeah, of course”

They hopped on top of the roof of the second floor of the pagoda. Ryo spotted the window in question. It was pretty high up, but could make it. Lamaze effortlessly leaped up to the top of the building and turned to him. Damn, that was impressive. She looked inside and then motioned for him to come. Ryo nodded and jumped up to the window. He caught the windowsill, then quickly hoisted himself through. He looked around the room. Judging by the small bed and the dolls scattered around the floor, this room probably belonged to the noble’s daughter. Ryo began searching the room for anything of value.

“There’s nothing here”, he sighed as Lamaze slipped in behind him, “Unless you want some new clothes I guess”

“Hey, I’m not that small”

She glanced at the open wardrobe.

“Ok maybe some of those might fit me”

Lamaze grabbed a few sets and handed them to Ryo so he could put him in his backpack.

“So do you know where the money could possibly be?”, he asked while closing his backpack and putting it back on.

“Either up here, or in the cellar”

“Alright, we should hurry before they put that fire out”

Ryo sensed two guards in the room across the hallway. That had to be where it was.

“The money’s in the room at the end of the hallway”

“What? How do you know that?”

“There’s two guards in the room despite the fire, so obviously there must be something important in there”

“How do you know there’s two guards?”

“I can sense them”

“What?!”

“Just trust me on this”

Ryo quietly opened the door and snuck down the hallway. He held his hand up to Lamaze when they reached the door of the room. He started counting.

5… 

4… 

3… 

2… 

1… 

Ryo threw the door open and knocked out the guard on the right with a quick strike to the temple. Before the guard on the left realized what was happening, Lamaze kicked him in the groin and uppercutted him in the chin. They turned to face a giant metal safe.

“Yeah we’re gonna need the putty for that”

Lamaze took out a brick of putty and a fuse.

“Ok, there’s only three bolts here, here, and here”, she said while unwrapping the brick and pulling a chunk off. Lamaze placed three small chunks of putty where the bolts were and then stuck fuses in them.

“So this won’t destroy the stuff inside the safe?”, Ryo asked.

“Nope, I learned my lesson with that already”

Lamaze lit the fuses. They ran out of the room, into the hallway, and covered their ears. They waited until a loud boom came from the room, and then ran back inside. The safe now had three big holes in it. Ryo tore the door open, revealing the contents of the safe. Two large watercolor paintings, a fancy bottle of alcohol, and a strange looking dagger.

“What?! Where’s the money?!”, shouted Lamaze as she frantically looked around the inside of the safe. 

Ryo sensed several guards coming up the stairs. They must’ve heard the explosion.

“Lamaze, the guards are coming right now. Let’s just pocket what we can and get out of here”

“No! This isn’t enough! Th-There’s gotta be money somewhere! I’m not gonna get another chance like this!”

They were on the second floor now.

“Lamaze! We don’t have time! We need to go!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Three men appeared in the doorway. They were wearing black hats and black robes with green accents, embroidered with the emblem of the Earth Kingdom. 

Dai Li.

That’s why this house had so little security. They were under the protection of the government.

A stone gauntlet shot towards Ryo. He quickly smashed it to pieces mid-air, but another caught his left hand and pinned it to the wall. 

“Fucking damnit!”, Lamaze screamed.

She angrily stood up and turned towards the Dai Li. Lamaze began spinning her hands around like she was making a ball. Wait… No way. A swirling bubble about the size of a watermelon formed in between her hands. Lamaze shot the bubble at the three Dai Li standing in the doorway. It struck the one in the middle and then exploded, sending them all flying backwards through the hallway. Lamaze cursed under her breath and shoved the bottle and dagger in the satchel. 

“You’re… You’re an-”

“Tell anyone, and you die”

“I won’t say a word”

She stared into his eyes.

“… Alright, then let’s go”

Lamaze opened the window.

“We’re gonna have to jump at the same time, got it?”

“Got it”

Lamaze immediately jumped out of the window towards the road nearby, Ryo following close behind. As they fell, she sent a vortex of air towards the ground that broke their fall. 

“You could’ve at least given me a warning or counted down or something”, said Ryo.

“Eh yeah I guess, sorry”

“It’s fine, anyway, we should head for the train station on the other side of the ring”

“Ok”

They hurried quietly down the road while the mansion continued to burn behind them.

“So where are we going exactly?”, Ryo asked.

“Somewhere nice”, replied Lamaze.

“There are nice places in the Lower Ring?”

“There are nice places everywhere if you look hard enough”

Hmm. That sounded like something Uncle would say.

They came to a small, abandoned stable in an alleyway.

“Ta-da! Welcome to my humble abode!”

“This is… supposed to be nice?”

“It is nice. There’s shade and lots of peace and quiet and also the hay’s really soft. Plus nobody really comes around here so you won’t have to worry about people stealing your stuff”

“I see”

Lamaze lit a lantern on the ground, threw a blanket over a pile of hay, and laid down on it. 

“How are you not tired?”

Ryo sat down.

“I don’t know, it’s not really that late and I don’t really get tired in general”

“Huh”

“Is it… Is it alright if I ask you about your airbending?”

“Sure, not really like there’s much to tell you though. I’ve basically been able to do it since I was little and I just hide it from everyone. One of my parents was probably an airbender but I never knew my parents because they died when I was little. That’s pretty much it”

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss”

“Nah it’s fine, it happened so long ago I can barely remember it”

“Did they die in the siege?”

“No, my father drowned at sea and my mother died of illness when we came to Ba Sing Sei. Anyway, sorry about freaking out on you earlier, I was just really mad that I had lost my chance”

“Chance at what?”

“Well getting a ton of money obviously, and also getting out of this city”

“You want to leave Ba Sing Sei? Why?”

“Well, this is gonna sound kinda stupid, but I have this feeling really deep in my gut that if I get out of this city I’ll be able to find other people like me”

“Other airbenders?”

“Yeah, stupid I know, there’s literally no way in hell I’d find anyone and with the war going on it’d be a horrible idea to leave the city. Honestly I don’t even know what I’m thinking even more”

“I don’t think it’s stupid. Even if you fail, at least you can say that you tried instead of doing nothing”

“Hmm… guess that’s true. Welp, now that I’ve told you my deepest darkest secret, how about you tell me yours”

“… What makes you think I have a secret?”

“Oh come on, “Chen” is the second fakest name behind “Lee” so you must be hiding something”

“Alright then, I know you’re going to tell anyone so why not I guess… Have you ever heard of the White Prince?”

“The lightningbending kid who disappeared?”

“Yeah, him”

“What about him?”

“Well, um… he’s me”

Lamaze burst out laughing.

“Look look look, if you didn’t actually have a secret you could’ve just said that”

Ryo sighed and took his crown out of his pocket. Lamaze’s eyes widened.

“What… What the hell is that?”

“My crown”

She looked at him, then at the crown, then back at him.

“Holy fucking shit… you’re him”

“Yeah”

“So… Why… Why are you here?”

“Well my town was attacked by the Fire Nation”

“No I mean like why aren’t you in the Fire Nation”

“I… ran away”

“Can I ask why?”

“…”

“It’s fine if you’re not comfortable talking about it”

“I ran because my Father, Fire Lord Ozai, was going to send me off to fight in the war when I was nine. My Mother pleaded with him to let me stay and then he…”

Ryo’s mouth was going dry.

“… He beat her, and then I ran. I should’ve done something, I should’ve stopped him, I should have killed him and then the war would end and everyone would be happy, but no, I just ran like-like a coward”

Lamaze placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Look… I think you should stop blaming yourself, it’s not your fault that that happened and it’s not your fault that the war’s going on”

“I… I know… I know it’s not really my fault, it’s just that it’s hard for me to move forward and I don’t know why”

“Things like this just take time”

“… I guess so. Thank you, Lamaze”

“No need. We should get some sleep now, there’s a nice soft bed of hay for you in the stall next to me”

“Ok”

“One more thing”

“What?”

“What’s your actual name?”

“Ryo”

“Hmm, well good night then, Ryo”

“Good night Lamaze”

Ryo stretched his arms and yawned. It was pretty bright out. What time was it? There was a note next to his bed.

“You’re a pretty heavy sleeper. Went out for errands, be back in an hour or two”

He folded the note and placed it next to the bed. Today he felt pretty good. Maybe he should try to find a job. Lamaze could probably help him with that, though the job would probably have something to do with thievery. 

There was another note in the middle of the alleyway. Was it also from Lamaze? He walked over to it. There were more scattered around the ground everywhere. These definitely weren’t from Lamaze. Ryo picked one of them up and started reading it.


	4. A Six-Legged Flying Cow

_ "Ryo, you are going to apologize to your sister!" _

_ "No" _

_ "What was that?!" _

_ "Did you even hear what she was saying?" _

_ "Ryo-" _

_ "SHE WAS MAKING FUN OF HIM! SHE SHOULD BE THE ONE APOLOGIZING!" _

_ "I know what she said was unacceptable, but what you did was even more so" _

_ "... I... I know" _

_ "Good, now come along" _

Lamaze sat on the roof of a shop and stared down at the crowded street. She always wondered how she was able to stay hidden despite being in somewhat clear view of the crowd. Probably because everyone down there was too caught up in what they were doing to notice her. Unfortunately there was no one walking away from the street. Looks like she’d have to go down and pickpocket people in the crowd, which to be honest, wasn’t really that hard though, she just preferred the less risky option.

Wait a sec. Lamaze spotted two people moving away from the main street. Two girls, a teenager with dark skin wearing foreign-looking blue clothes and a little girl with a headband. They looked like they had money. She began to follow them from above. As she got closer, Lamaze noticed that the smaller girl’s eyes were completely white. She was blind. Oh this was great. Lamaze jumped and landed softly on the ground behind them. She crept up to the girls and stretched her hand out towards their purses. 

A pillar of rock shot up out of the ground and hit her in the stomach. Lamaze stumbled backwards, coughing heavily. 

“Well well well, look what we’ve got here”, said the blind girl.

“What the… how…”

“How did a little blind girl notice I was trying to pickpocket her? Hmm, one of life’s great mysteries I guess. Now scram before I kick your ass even harder”

Lamaze jumped on the roof of a nearby building and scurried away. She would rather not attract the attention of the guards by fighting that annoying blind bitch. 

She sat down and stared at the street again. Hopefully she could get at least  _ some  _ money today.

When Lamaze got back to the stable she saw Ryo sitting on the ground, reading some sort of flyer.

“Hey Lamaze”, he said without looking up from the flyer. 

“Hi Ryo. Wait, how’d you know it was me?”

“I sensed you jump down from that building behind me and walk over here”

“You know, you mentioned something like that when we were raiding the mansion yesterday, so what exactly is this “sense” that you have?”

“Basically, I can feel lightning”

“Wait so then how could you tell I was there, last time I checked, I wasn’t made of lightning”

“Technically you are, I can sense the electricity in your nervous system and the nervous systems of all living beings, that’s how I can tell where people are without seeing or hearing them”

“Wow… How long have you been able to do this?”

“Since I was born”

“Cooool. What’s that you’re reading?”

Lamaze grabbed the flyer out of his hands.

“Missing: Appa the-holy shit! The Avatar’s in the city! And he’s looking for his flying cow!”

“Yeah”

“So, we’re gonna go help him find it right?”

“Yes… For once in my life, I want to do something good. I want to help people. I want to help the world… I think the reason I can’t move forward is because I never really knew where I wanted to go. Doing this, I think, is a step in the right direction”

“Hell yeah! Anyway, now where does it say his address i-damnit”

“What?”

“He lives in the Upper Ring”

“Can’t we just take the train up there?”

“No, we’ll get caught by the Dai Li”

“So what do we then?”

“Well, we can get to the Upper Ring by going through Lake Laogai. The lake can be accessed through both the Upper and Middle Rings so we’ll just take the train to the Middle Ring and then head through the lake to the Upper. It’ll be a literal walk in the park”

“Wait so why didn’t we go that way yesterday?”

“I don’t like walking”

“Ok. Well, we should get going now”

“Let’s”

Lake Laogai was a very plain-looking place. All there was, was just the lake and rocks. This place was supposed to be a park right? And despite the fact that the lake was so big, Ryo couldn’t sense a single fish anywhere. Maybe they were all at the bottom. He closed his eyes and concentrated his sense on the lake. There some fish close to the bed of the lake and… wait no, that didn’t make any sense. There were  _ people _ down there. Ryo concentrated harder. Yep, there were people, a lot of people. There must be some kind of secret complex under the lake. There was something else down there too. Something big, with six legs.

“Ryoooo. Earth to Ryo”

Lamaze tapped his shoulder.

“Ryo, now’s not the time to take a nap”

“I just found the Avatar’s sky bison”

“Wait what?! Really?! Where is it?!”

“There’s a huge base underneath the lake. Judging by the way the people inside are walking, I think it belongs to the Dai Li. The bison’s chained up inside”

“So the Dai Li captured the Avatar’s cow?”

“Looks like it. We should hurry, who knows what they might do with it”

“Alright”

“Don’t run though, we don’t want to attract attention”

“Got it”

They quickly walked towards the Upper Ring. 

Ryo looked at the flyer and then at the house in front of him. Yep, this was the place. He sensed three things inside, a boy about his age cleaning dishes, a younger boy having lunch, and some strange kind of flying mammal. Maybe that guy at customs wasn’t actually lying. They walked up to the door. Lamaze wiped her forehead. 

“Are you nervous?”, asked Ryo.

“Yeah, a little, we’re gonna meet the Avatar after all”, she replied.

Ryo knocked on the door. After a few seconds it opened. Standing in the doorway was a little boy with a shaven head and a tattoo of an arrow. By Agni, that guy wasn’t lying.

“Are you Avatar um, Aang?”

“Sure am!”, he said cheerfully, “How can I help you?”

“We know where your sky bison is”

“What?! Where?!”

“The Dai Li have him. He’s being held in a massive underground complex underneath Lake Laogai”

“Aang who’re you talking to?”, said a boy with a short ponytail and a lemur on his shoulder.

“Sokka! These guys know where Appa is!”

The boy looked at them with narrowed eyes.

“Hmm… I don’t know Aang, these guys could be scammers”

“Who in their right mind would try to scam the Avatar?!”, Lamaze retorted.

“Alright, so then where’s Appa exactly?”

“Underneath Lake Laogai”, Ryo answered.

“Riiiiight, and how do you know he’s there?”

“I sensed his nervous system”

“You… sensed his nervous system”

“Yes”

“How?”

“I’ve been able to sense the nervous systems of living things since birth”

“You are a really bad scammer”

Ryo sighed.

“About one minute before I knocked on the door, you were washing dishes and having a conversation with your pet lemur while the Avatar was eating lunch in the living room. Right now there are two girls standing behind me: one about the same age as you and one who’s probably somewhere in between nine and ten who is also blind”

The boy’s mouth was hanging open.

“So there, is that proof enough?”

“Wait a minute”, said the teenage girl behind them.

Ryo and Lamaze found themselves surrounded by a ring of moving water.

“That girl tried to pickpocket us earlier today!”

Ryo turned to Lamaze.

“Uh… yeah”

“A-ha! I knew you guys were scammers!”

“… Ok look, I’m sorry I tried to steal from you guys. We’re not here to scam you, we’re here to help you, so can you please just hear us out”

“Katara, they’re telling the truth”, said the blind girl.

“What? Toph, how are you sure?”

“I can tell when people are lying by feeling their heartbeat through the vibrations in the ground, so trust me, these guys  _ aren’t _ lying”

“… Alright then”

The water flowed back into the girl’s canteen. Whew, thank Agni. 

“So you’re 100% sure that Appa’s at Lake Laogai?”, the Avatar asked.

“Yes, and we better hurry because I don’t know what they might do to him”, said Ryo.

He nodded in response.

“So what’re your guys’s names anyway?” said the older boy.

“My name is Chen and this is Lamaze”

“That’s a lie. Your name’s not actually Chen”, the blind girl replied.

Ryo you idiot, she literally said she could tell when people were lying. He sighed.

“… Ryo, my real name is Ryo”

“Huh, Ryo… weird name”

Wait… did they not know who he was? On second thought, Lamaze asked for his name even after he told her who he was. Guess most people didn’t know the White Prince’s actual name.

“Alright, we really need to hurry though if you want to get your sky bison”, he said, quickly changing the subject to the more pressing matter.

“Got it”, said the Avatar, “Let’s go guys”

“You sensing any tunnels down there Toph?”, asked Sokka.

“Oh yeah, there’s tunnels down here alright”, she replied, “This place is huge!”

Toph earthbended a platform out of the water, revealing the entrance to the complex. 

“Wait”, Ryo said, holding his hand up, “Before we go in, we need a plan”

“Sokka, you’re the planning guy”, said Aang.

Everyone looked at him. 

“Ok so here’s the plan: we get inside and then Ryo uses his System Sense to find out where Appa is”

“My what?”

“You know, your System Sense, the thing where you sense other peoples’ nervous systems”

He put his fingers on his temples and made a beeping sound.

“Um… ok. I mean, I already know exactly where he is”

“Where?”

“On the bottom floor of the complex, at the end of what looks like a long hallway”

“Sweet, we know where Appa is. So then all we have to do is sneak past the Dai Li and free him”

“I have a question”

“What’s your question Ryo?”

“How are we gonna get out?”

“I’m glad you asked that, Ryo. You see, once we free Appa, Toph will make a tunnel to the lakebed. Katara and Aang will use waterbending to make sure we don’t get flooded. Then, we simply get on Appa and fly out of the lake”

“So then how will we do that without alerting the Dai Li?”

“Uh…”

“I got that covered”, Lamaze spoke up, “I can use airbending to soundproof the cell while we free the cow”

“Wait, you’re an airbender?!”, Aang exclaimed.

“Yep”

Lamaze made a small air bubble on the tip of her finger and let it dissipate after a few seconds. 

“Do-Do you know if there are any other airbenders besides you?!”

“I mean, there probably are, but… I have no clue where they could be”

“Oh…”

“Sorry”

“No, it’s ok”

“Anyway, now that we know what the plan is, we should probably go and like, execute it”

Everyone nodded and went down the hole.

They came to a long hallway, dimly lit with small green lanterns. 

“All of the rooms on this floor are empty except for that one”, Ryo whispered, gesturing to a door on the far left, “Lamaze, can you soundproof it from the outside?”

“Yeah”

She silently created a large bubble and sent it towards the door. Once it touched it, the bubble spread out, forming a thin wall of solid air.

“Done”

They all walked past the room, over to the end of the hallway. There was a flight of dark stone stairs that spiraled down to the bottom floor.

“Alright, there’s a group of five Dai Li walking through the hallway right now so don’t go down until I say so”

The Dai Li walked down the hallway and eventually went into a room on the right. 

“Now”

“Wait wait wait, hold on!”, said Aang.

“What?”

“I may have um… leaned on a trap”

Aang’s hand was inside a brick-shaped hole in the wall.

“Ok Aang, listen to me”, Sokka began, “keep your hand completely still and use your earthbending to fill the hole up”

“Got it”

Aang shifted into an earthbending stance, accidentally pushing his hand in more. The sound of alarm bells blared throughout the complex.

“AANG WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT KEEPING YOUR HAND COMPLETELY STILL!”

“Sorry!”

“Forget it, just move!”, shouted Ryo.

They quickly ran down the staircase and into the hallway. Waiting for them was a small army of Dai Li led by a man with a pointy goatee and green eyes like a snake. Long Feng.

“You have made yourselves enemies of the state”

“Fuck the state and fuck you”, Lamaze replied.

The man gritted his teeth.

“Take them into custody”

Several stone gauntlets shot towards them. Lamaze swung her arm in a semicircle, forming a blade of air that turned the gauntlets to dust before they could touch them. Toph and Aang stepped in front of her and bent a massive wall out of the ground. They punched together simultaneously, launching the wall across the hallway and into the Dai Li.

“That should hold them off for a bit”, said Toph.

“Appa’s in that room over there!”, Ryo yelled while running to the door.

He pulled it open and went inside. In the middle of the room, stood the massive, fluffy, six-legged beast he had seen in the flyer this morning. 

“Appa!”, shouted Aang.

The young Avatar quickly cut the chains around the bison’s legs and jumped on top of him, hugging his head with his whole body.

“I missed you so much buddy”

Appa let out a soft bellow in response.

“Alright, Toph and Aang, start working on the tunnel. Sokka, Katara, Lamaze, and I will hold off the Dai Li”

Aang hopped down and wiped his eyes.

“Got it”, he replied.

He went with Toph to the back of the cell and began digging. Ryo grabbed one of the broken chains from the floor. They stood firm, bracing for the incoming assault.

The entire wall in front of them burst open. Ryo swung the chain just in time to destroy a large boulder that was launched at them. That was a bit too close for comfort. He swung again, this time taking out several Dai Li standing behind the rubble. Ryo jumped into the crowd behind the fallen soldiers and wrapped the chain around the neck of one of them. Before any of the Dai Li could react, Ryo bent over and kicked the one directly behind him in the head. Four more to go. He moved to the side, swept another agent to the ground, and stomped on his chest. Three more. Ryo shoved the strangled Dai Li into one of his comrades, sending them both sprawling to the ground. Two more. He leaped up in the air and planted his feet in the faces of the remaining Dai Li. Ryo landed back on the ground.

“… Wow”, muttered Sokka.

“Aang, how’s it going with the tunnel?!”, Katara shouted.

“We’re almost through! Just hang on a little longer!”

“Yeah we probably won’t have much trouble doing that”

Ryo brushed the dust off his clothes. 

“You know, I could really use a nice cold cup of tea right now”

“Cold?”

“Yeah, tea’s good cold, especially in the summer”

Ryo tilted his head just enough to avoid a projectile from behind him. He turned around to face the now livid cultural enforcer of the earth kingdom. Appa roared and turned around. The bison lifted his tail and slammed it into the ground, creating a massive gust of wind that blew Long Feng and the rest of the Dai Li back into the hallway. 

“Alright, the tunnel’s done!”, Toph yelled as she slid down to meet them. 

Everyone got on top of Appa who immediately went through the tunnel until they reached Aang at the end.

“Great, everyone’s here”, he said while bending the water back.

Aang jumped on top of Appa.

“Ok Appa, yip yip!”

Appa snorted.

“Don’t worry, Katara and I will bend the water away”

They began to move through the lake, the water flowing around them as they rose.

Zuko came to a stone platform jutting out from the shore of Lake Laogai. This was it, this was where the bison was. This was where the Avatar would be.

He heard rustling in the bushes behind him. Zuko drew his dao and pointed them at the person behind him.

“Wait… Uncle?”

“So, the Blue Spirit”, Iroh replied, “I wonder who could be behind that mask?”

Zuko sighed and took it off.

“What are you doing here, Uncle?”

“I should ask you the same thing”

“The Avatar’s bison is in there. I’m going to find him, wait for the Avatar to come rescue him, and then capture the Avatar”

“And what will we do after that Zuko? Are we going to hold him captive in our apartment? Am I going to pour him a cup of tea?”

“We’ll come up with something!”

“No we won’t Zuko. This is the problem with you, you always do these things without thinking them through! This is just like what happened at the North Pole!”

“I had the Avatar at the North Pole!”

“Yes, you had him and would’ve frozen death if it weren’t for his friends!”

Iroh pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Please Prince Zuko, I’m begging you, turn back now and forget about the Avatar!”

“NO! Capturing the Avatar is my destiny!”

“Is it  _ your  _ destiny Zuko, or is it a destiny forced upon you by someone else?!”

Zuko was silent.

“You need to look inwards, and ask yourself the big questions: Who are you and what do  _ you _ want?!”

A loud sound caught Zuko’s attention. He turned and saw the Avatar’s bison rising up from the lake. He stood still, watching it as it climbed higher and higher into the sky. He said nothing. He should’ve been screaming or swearing or shouting, but he wasn’t. He just stayed silent as the bison slowly became a small, white dot, floating above the horizon.


	5. Cheers

_"Hey Mom, can we go to the market?"_

_"Ryo, you know the rules"_

_"But I'm seven and a half, isn't that old enough?"_

_"You can only go outside the palace when you're eight so until then, you'll have to stay here"_

_"Stupid rules"_

_"If you're bored, how about you paint me a picture"_

_"A picture?"_

_"Mm hmm"_

_"Why?"_   
  


_"Because I'd like you to"_

_"Fine"_

“So, you trespass on royal property, assault my guards, break into my throne room, and you expect  _ me _ to trust you?”

The Earth King’s verdant eyes were burning behind his spectacles.

“… Yeah we probably should’ve thought about that”

Lamaze’s head was in her hands. What do you mean  _ probably _ ? Of you course you should’ve fucking thought about that! Did nobody stop and think for one second, that  _ attacking _ the people you are trying to gain the trust of was a bad fucking idea?!

That bearded prick, what the fuck was his name again? Long Feng, smiled.

“Guards, arrest them”, he ordered.

Fucking damnit.

“Wait! You have to hear us out!”, shouted Aang.

“Don’t listen to them, my king, these people are members of a rogue terrorist organization that we’ve been trying to apprehend for years”

“Alright, so then what’s the name of our organization?”, Toph replied.

“… The Yellow… Viper”

How in hell was this guy the leader of the Dai Li?

“Hmm, I see”, muttered King Kuei.

“Please, I’m the Avatar!”

Oh so  _ now  _ you mention you’re the Avatar. 

“You’re the Avatar?”

Aang demonstrated his bending in response. 

“Wow… Very well, I will listen to what you have to say, Avatar”

Lamaze let out a sigh of relief as the guards backed off.

“Thank you Earth King, so as I was saying, the Fire Nation is currently at war with you”

“How could I currently be in a war without knowing about it?”

“Long Feng and the Dai Li having been hiding it from you”

“What? Why would my most trusted advisor be hiding an entire war from me?”

“Because he thinks it would make the Earth Kingdom look weak”, answered Ryo, “Long Feng probably thinks that if the people know about the war and that we’re losing, they’ll blame the government”

“Hmm… Long Feng, is this true?”

“No my king, If there was any kind of threat to the Earth Kingdom I would inform you immediately”

“He’s lying!”, yelled Toph.

“Silence”, commanded the young king, “Though you are a companion of the Avatar, I will not allow you to point fingers at anyone unless you have proof”

Toph quietly grumbled to herself.

“So do any of you have any evidence of this “secret war” you speak of?”

“We do, on the Outer Ring your majesty”, said Aang, “We can take over there on Appa”

The sky bison lumbered into the throne room and bellowed.

“Don’t go near it my king! It’s dangerous!”, Long Feng shouted.

“That’s rich coming from the one who kidnapped him”

“What?! That’s a baseless accusation, I’ve never even seen this animal before!”

“Oh really, then what’s that on your leg?”

Lamaze noticed the large bite mark on Long Feng’s left calf.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s nothing on my leg”

Aang sent a wave of air along the ground towards the leader of the Dai Li that blew his robes into his face, exposing the bite mark to the entire room.

“ _ That _ sure looks like something on your leg”, smirked Sokka.

“… That is a birthmark”

“A  _ red _ birthmark, shaped like Appa’s teeth?”

Sokka pointed at Appa’s open mouth and then to the mark on Long Feng’s leg. 

“This… This proves nothing! Do not listen to these lies my king!”

The Earth King’s chin was rested on his knuckles.

“Long Feng…”, he said, raising his head and staring directly into his eyes, “You are hereby under arrest for the crime of treason”

The palace guards quickly forced him to the ground and handcuffed him.

“Please my king, everything I did was for the sake of the Earth Kingdom! If the people knew about the state of the war there would be chaos! Uprising! Please, li-!”

“Get him out of my sight”

The guards lifted him up and then dragged him out of the room.

“Long Feng, more like long gone!”, Sokka jeered, “Man I’ve been waiting so long to use that”

Toph and Aang cackled at Sokka’s joke. Lamaze just stared at him.

“ _ Ahem _ ”

They stopped laughing and looked up at the young king.

“Avatar, if I may, I would like to see whatever is in the Outer Ring”

“Wait, do you still not believe us?”

“No no I believe you, I just want to see the state of this… war”

“Alright, let’s go then”

Appa laid down on the ground to allow everyone on. The Earth King walked up to the bison.

“Um, he won’t get scared if I use earthbending near him, right?”

“No”

“Ok”

He bended himself up and sat down on Appa’s back.

“Yip yip!”

Appa got up off the ground and walked out of the hall.

“So do I hold onto anything or-OH SPIRITS!”

The sky bison flew out of the palace towards the Outer Ring. Spirits this was awesome. Lamaze loved the feeling of the wind blowing against her face and the view of the city below. The massive city she had lived her whole life in looked so small and so distant from here.

“Ohdearohdearohdearohdearohdearohdearohdearohdear please don’t let me fall, please don’t let me die”

“Don’t worry, your highness, if you fall you’ve got two airbenders who’ll save you”, Lamaze chimed. 

“T-Two?”

“Yep, the Avatar and myself”

“You’re also an airbender?”

“Uh huh”

“Wow, so there are um uh… other airbenders”

“Yeah… at least I think”

The king glanced down and then gulped.

“I wouldn’t look down if I were you”

He nodded slowly. 

After only a few minutes, they had arrived at the outermost wall of Ba Sing Sei. King Kuei wiped the sweat off his forehead and sat down on the ground.

“Your highness, are you ok?”, asked Katara.

“Yes I’m fine, just a little dizzy is all”

He stood up and followed Aang over to the edge of the wall.

“What… What is that?!”

The Earth King stared at the metal horror down below.

“It’s a Fire Nation drill”, said Aang.

“… To think that all of  _ this  _ was happening right underneath my nose”

“Don’t worry, we have a plan, one that will turn the tides of this war”

“What is it?”

“There’s a solar eclipse coming which will leave the Fire Nation completely powerless. On that day, we strike the Fire Nation directly”

“So you want to attack on the day of the eclipse?”

“Yes”

“So which part of the Fire Nation would we be attacking exactly?”

“Well uh… you should probably ask Sokka that, he’s the planning guy”

“Alright, we should head back now, there is much to do”

“Ok. C’mere Appa”

“Wait wait, do you mind if we just take the train back?”

“Are you sure? Flying is faster”

“I’d prefer taking the train”

“Um… that’s ok I guess”

“Excellent”

They headed over to the station and got on a train.

“Wow, so this is what taking the train is like”

“Have you never been on a train before?”, Lamaze asked.

“No, I’ve never even been out of the palace before”

“Really? You didn’t leave like… ever?”

“Nope, not at all”

“Huh… you didn't get bored or anything?”

“A little bit”

Lamaze noticed the people in the train pointing and staring at something out the window. Wow. Appa was flying directly alongside the train. He must not like being left by himself.

“That reminds me, Basco is probably getting lonely at the palace”

“Who?”

“Basco, my pet bear”

“Oh”

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“Lamaze”

“Hmm, that’s a rather unusual name, where are you from?”

“Some small fishing village I don’t know the name of”

“You don’t know the name of the place where you were born?”

“Well, we left when I was one and came here”

“I see, where are your parents right now though?”

“Dead”

“Oh spirits… I-I’m so sorry”

“No no no it’s ok, they died a really long time ago”

The Earth King sat down and stared out of the train window, visibly distraught. She then remembered that King Kuei’s parents had died just last year. Fuck. Lamaze opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She spent the rest of the train ride in silence.

Once they got back to the palace, they were shown to the lavish room they would be staying in. It was huge, even more spacious than a house. And they had a bath. A PERSONAL BATH. Lamaze quickly ran inside and shut the door. She ran the water until the tub was completely full. This was so awesome. Lamaze stripped and then got in. The water was so warm and relaxing, she felt like she was gonna melt into the tub. Seriously this was great. It had been probably years since she took a bath… Wait wait no, that made her sound like some kind of smelly garbage woman. She washed herself pretty frequently (by sitting behind the stable and dumping buckets of water on herself) but she hadn’t taken an actual bath like in a tub, for a pretty long time. Lamaze grabbed the fancy bar of soap on the little stand next to the tub and scrubbed herself clean. She felt kind of hungry. Maybe room service could bring them some food or something. 

“Hey Lamaze? It’s me Aang. How long are you gonna be in there for?”

“Uh… I’ll be out in a second”

She stood up, drained the water, and then threw a bathrobe on. 

“Alright, all yours”, said Lamaze.

Aang quickly went inside and shut the door.

Lamaze walked through the hallway into the living room. She sat down on the couch, noticing that there was a bowl of fruit on the short table in front of her. She grabbed a peach and bit into it. It was quite tasty. 

“Hi Lamaze”, said Katara as she sat down on the couch next to her, “How’s it going?”

“Amazing, I literally just went from being flat broke to living in a palace and being friends with the Avatar. This is probably the best day in my entire life”

“That’s good to hear”

“How about you?”

“Oh I’m also feeling pretty great, I’m really happy that we found Appa and it’s nice to see everyone in a good mood again”

“Yeah-”

“Please forgive me for intruding”, said a servant who entered the room, “but the Earth King has found some documents that may be of great interest to you”

Documents?

“Alright, we’ll be there in a minute”, Katara replied.

The servant nodded and left the room.

“Well I’ll go get everyone, you should probably get dressed”

“Ok”

Wait, where were her clothes? Lamaze stood up and tried to remember everything that happened in the last 20 minutes. Oh yeah, she left them in the bathroom. Better go get them then.

“Hey Lamaze, you left these in the bathroom”, said Aang, handing her her clothes.

“Thanks Aang”

Lamaze went over to her room and with her clothes and changed. She came back out and then met up with the rest of the gang outside. They followed the servant through the palace, over to an office where King Kuei was sitting.

“Sorry for disturbing you guys, but when I was searching through some of the paperwork the Dai Li recently confiscated, I found some letters for you”

He handed Aang a raggedy looking scroll.

“This was found attached to Appa’s horn when the Dai Li captured him”

“Hmm… it’s a note from a guru, he says he can teach me how to control the Avatar State!”

“Wow that’s amazing!”, exclaimed Katara.

“What’s the Avatar State?”, Lamaze asked.

“It’s this thing where Aang’s eyes and tattoos start glowing and his bending becomes super strong but he can’t control himself”

“Oh ok”

“Katara, Sokka, this is for you”, said King Kuei as he gave them a large sheet of paper”

“Uh let’s see, something something something a company of warriors from the Southern Water Tribe led by CHIEF HADOKA!”

“Dad’s there?! We can go see him?!”

Lamaze felt kind of awkward as she watched the two siblings begin bawling and hugging each other. 

“Yes, he’ll actually be coming here in a day or two to help plan the invasion”

“That’s-That’s amazing!”

“And finally, here is a letter from your mother, Toph”

“I can’t read”

“Oh, uh… it says that she forgives you for running away and apologizes for being so overprotective of you. She would like to meet you outside the city next monday at two o’clock in the afternoon”

“Wow, I didn’t expect that coming from her. Next monday at two, gotta remember that”

“Um, did you find any information about there being other airbenders anywhere?”, asked Lamaze.

“Sorry, I haven’t found anything yet, but I will keep looking”

“Thank you”

They all walked back to the room.

“Aw man, I better start getting packed now”, Aang groaned.

“Wait you’re leaving now?!”, Lamaze asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got about a day’s journey ahead of me so the sooner I get going, the better”

“Oh… I was kinda hoping you could’ve stayed for a little and taught me about airbending”

Aang’s face beamed.

“When I come back, I’ll teach you everything I know”

“Thanks Aang”

Everyone stood together and waved as Appa soared into the afternoon sky. Man, what a day this had been.

“Alright, what’s for dinner?”, asked Sokka.

“Um, I think the servants will bring us something”, Katara replied.

“Good, cause I’m starving”

They all went back inside and asked one of the servants if they could get some food. The servant nodded and left. Lamaze laid down on the couch, her eyes fixated on the ceiling. These cushions were so soft. She felt like she could fall asleep right now. Ryo sat down next to her.

“Hiiii Ryo”

“Hi Lamaze”

“You hungry?”

“Yeah, a little”

“I wonder what they’ll bring us, hopefully some dumplings, I love dumplings”

“I used to work at a dumpling place”

“Ooh, so can you make me some dumplings sometime?”

“I wasn’t a chef or anything, I just carried flour”

“Oh”

“My boss said he was gonna teach me how, but then my village got attacked by the Fire Nation”

“Yeesh… well at least some good came out of it. If none of that ever happened, then you never would’ve met the Avatar or me”

“Well, there’s always a silver lining I guess”

Sokka came over and sat down.

“Sup guys”

“Hello Sokka”, said Ryo.

“Whew, I am  _ so  _ tired right now”

“Yeah usually you get tired after crying a river like you did a few minutes ago”, Lamaze smirked.

“H-Hey! I didn’t cry that much!”

“Pffft sure. Anyway, it must be awesome that you finally get to see your Dad again”

“Spirits, awesome is the understatement of the century”

“So your Dad’s a uh, soldier right?”

“He’s chief of the Southern Water Tribe”

“Oh… wouldn’t that make you like, prince of the water tribe or something?”

“Prince Sokka… hmm… nah, that sounds really weird”

The servants came in the room carrying several platters of food. Lamaze’s mouth watered at the smell. They opened the door to the balcony Lamaze just realized they had and put the food on the table outside. 

“Please do call us if there is anything you need”, they said as they left.

They all got up and went over to the table. Lamaze immediately snagged a plateful of dumplings before anyone could get them first. 

“Hey, save some for everyone else”, Sokka complained.

“Early bird gets the worm”

She bit into one. Holy shit it was so fucking delicious. Toph and Katara came over and sat down as Lamaze cleaned her plate.

“Seriously how do you use these stupid things?”, muttered Sokka.

“Use what?”, asked Ryo.

“These weird sticks!”

“You don’t know how to use chopsticks?”

“That’s what these are called?”

“Yes”

“Alright so how do I eat with them?”

“Uh, you kind of just hold them like this…”

Ryo held his hand up to Sokka.

“And grab stuff with them”

He picked up a dumpling and put it on his plate.

“Ok, I got it now”

Sokka attempted to grab one of the dumplings off the platter, scowling more and more each time he dropped it.

“Sokka you can just use a spoon if you want”

“No no no, I’ve got it”

He continued to fumble around with his chopsticks.

“OK SCREW THIS!”

He stabbed the dumpling with the chopsticks. Ryo sighed and then scooped some fried rice onto his plate.

“Seriously, why can’t everyone just eat with forks and spoons like normal people?

“Isn’t the Water Tribe the only place where people  _ don’t _ use chopsticks?”

Sokka grumbled to himself and skewered another dumpling.

“Hey you know what would make this night like, ten times more fun?”, said Lamaze.

“What”, Toph asked.

Lamaze got up from the table. She went in her room and searched through her satchel. Hmmm… Oh, there it was. She came back and put the fancy bottle of stolen alcohol on the table. 

“What’s that?”

“What’s it look like?”

“Huh, maybe I would be able to tell if I you know,  _ actually had the ability to see _ ”

“… Sorry. Anyway I was just thinking, what better way to celebrate than to share a nice big bottle of bubbly between your besties”

“Um Lamaze, I don’t think this is a good idea”

“Oh don’t be such a wet blanket Katara”

“But none of us are 16, we could get in trouble!”

“It’s fiiiine, plus I’m 16 so I legally can’t get in any trouble”

“You’re 16?”

“Uh yeah”

“I didn’t think you would be older than me”

“Why, cause I’m short?”

“Well um… I mean… yes”

“Whatever, who wants some?”

“Ooh me”

“Toph no! You’re way too young! In fact, nobody except Lamaze will be drinking any alcohol tonight!”

“You can have one cup Toph”

“Sweet”

Lamaze unscrewed the cap off the bottle and filled two cups. She handed one to Toph before Katara could get up from her seat and stop her. Toph took a sip of the cup.

“Eh, tastes weird”

“Good”, said Katara as she took the cup away from her.

“I’d like some”

“Sure thing Ryo”

Lamaze poured him a cup and gave it to him.

“Hmm, this is some  _ really  _ good sake”

“It is?”

Lamaze drank some.

“Wow this is great”

She drank some more.

“Um, could I have some?”, Sokka asked. 

“Sure thing”

“No no no no no, you’re not 16, you’re not having any”

“Come on, I’m 15 and a half”

“No”

“Please”

“I said no!”

“Pretty please”

“… You know what, fine, have your stupid alcohol”

Katara got up and stormed off.

“Well I’ll take a cup then”

“Uh… should I go apologize to her?”

“Nah, she’ll get over it”

“Really? She seems pretty pissed”

“Sugar Queen freaks out like this all the time”, said Toph, “Give her like half a day to cool off and she’ll probably be apologizing to  _ you _ ”

“Oh uh, ok I guess”

Lamaze finished her cup and then refilled it.

“So what’re we gonna do tomorrow?”

“No idea”

“Maybe we can go and do stuff in the Upper Ring”

“Eh, why not”

“Alright sweet. I’m gonna make a toast now”

“To what?”, Ryo asked.

“To uh… friendship and um… happiness?”

“Sounds kind of cheesy”

“Hey! I tried my best!”

“Didn’t say I wouldn’t drink to it”

He raised his glass.

“Cheers”

They all clinked their cups together.


End file.
